The expansion is above and beyond what the college announced in June: that its aviation maintenance program would move to larger quarters to accommodate a career education partnership next fall with high schools in the region.

Now, plans to build a larger classroom facility on the airport campus would aid what airport leaders have sought for years: a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility, commonly called an MRO — a mammoth jet service and repair center that would employ hundreds of mechanics.

The deal hinges on the college signing a lease with the airport for a larger classroom building to accommodate Rock Valley’s expansion. Both sides have pledged to agree to lease terms by Dec. 27, but college leaders say the airport’s proposal is too expensive.

RFD’s executive director, Mike Dunn, said his team is “very close” to luring a major MRO operator to the airport that could employ 350 people upon opening and 500 after two years.

“It’s no secret that we’re in hot pursuit of a large MRO operator, and the No. 1 issue to them is labor,” he said. “When you’re going to employ hundreds of people, you have to know that there’s an ongoing and continuous supply of men and women with the proper qualifications to do the job.

“That’s why our agreement with Rock Valley is so important.”

Rock Valley’s two-year program produces fewer than 50 graduates a year. Airport officials want 150 graduates annually within three years to serve the potential MRO.

To that end, the airport would build the college a larger classroom building to replace the 9,800-square-foot Falcon Road Center it leases from the airport, according to a memorandum of understanding signed Nov. 27 by both parties.

The new, 40,000-square-foot building would cost $5.5 million and could be ready by Aug. 15, Dunn said. The airport would borrow money for the project and the college would repay the debt, plus interest, under the terms of a 20-year lease. Terms of that lease would be agreed on by Dec. 27.

Rock Valley also pledges to broaden its curriculum to include avionics, composites and nondestructive testing to support careers in the aeronautics industry.

Dunn has urged college officials for years to expand the program to produce more aviation mechanics to support development at the airport and the region’s blossoming aerospace industry. Unable to persuade the college to expand, he began courting a for-profit aviation school based in Tulsa, Okla., last year to establish a Rockford campus to aid the potential MRO.

Page 2 of 2 - When Rock Valley announced its expansion plans in June, tensions flared over possible competition between the community college and the for-profit school. Dunn said he resumed talks with Rock Valley in mid-October when it became clear that Spartan College of Aeronautics & Technology would not expand to Rockford in the immediate future.

Dunn said his discussions with Rock Valley leaders took a positive turn this fall and he was eager to make a public announcement about their tentative partnership. But Rock Valley leaders, he said, weren’t willing to speak publicly about it.

The memorandum of understanding stipulates that neither party shall publicly discuss details of the agreement without the other’s consent. Dunn shared details of the agreement with the Register Star last week after lease negotiations with the college hit a snag.

Expanding Rock Valley’s program to serve the potential MRO, while not necessary to secure the MRO, would greatly help close the deal, he said. “We need to move quickly. What’s more important for the community?”

Rock Valley Trustee Patrick Murphy said a deal is still possible, but the airport’s offer is too expensive and “the college would be irresponsible to accept it.”

Under the airport’s proposal, Rock Valley would pay nearly $36,000 a month in rent for the 40,000-square-foot building. That’s 12 times the amount Rock Valley pays the airport for the Falcon Road Center that college leaders say is too old and too small to serve its aviation maintenance program.

Factor in interest payments, and the $5.5 million building would cost $8.3 million after 20 years.

Dunn said the final cost may be less, depending on interest rates and construction bids. He has asked RVC officials to suggest whatever modifications they may have regarding the construction and financing proposal.

He’s also offered Rock Valley the option of finding a third party to build the larger classroom facility or working with the college to build a facility off the airport campus.

Murphy said trustees aren’t willing to borrow money or raise taxes or tuition to support the airport’s current lease proposal.

“We can’t break the bank on one program and make every other college program suffer,” he said.

Had the airport been willing to negotiate with the college in June, the price tag for a larger classroom building may have been less and construction already underway, Murphy said. Regardless, the college is still at the negotiating table, “and we’re still willing to come to agreement on a fair number.”